Raeburn Fairweather appears not to have forgotten his roots. A hospital worker in New York City who tested positive to COVID-19, Fairweather was able to fight it off using traditional medicine. The respiratory therapist at Brooklyn’s Maimonides Medical Center said that during his two-week battle with the virus, he had a 104-degree fever.
The 47-year-old spoke to the New York Post describing the symptoms, he said “Tylenol was not able to cool it down. My body felt like it was tearing apart.”
“Headaches were severe. It feels like my eyeballs were being pushed out. ” Also, he narrated how he coughed up “thick, white mucus” while losing his sense of smell and taste.
He had to endure the pain until he treated himself with traditional Caribbean home remedies made with turmeric, garlic, and ginger in addition to Tylenol, the New York Post reported.
Fairweather, whose responsibility involves “inserting and removing ventilator tubes from the tracheas of coronavirus patients,” began experiencing symptoms after a triple shift at work on March 17th.
In doubt of his health, he went for a test on March 18 and was tested positive for COVID-19. The father of five subsequently quarantined himself in an extra room in his family’s Canarsie rowhouse while using a separate bathroom that his wife and children stayed away from.
According to him, no member of his household has shown any symptoms yet.
During the early days of the pandemic, he admitted that while treating patients, the hospital staff did not use protective gear for patients who were not showing any symptoms. “I’m going to be honest with you, the staff was still somewhat laid back about it,” he said.
Raeburn has since returned to work and is positive that home remedies helped him recover from the virus even when the World Health Organisation announced that there is no cure for the deadly virus.
Meanwhile, WHO posted on its website that “While some western, traditional or home remedies may provide comfort and alleviate symptoms of COVID-19, there is no evidence that current medicine can prevent or cure the disease. WHO does not recommend self-medication with any medicines, including antibiotics, as a prevention or cure for COVID-19.”
As world leaders are still being skeptical about taking a chance with traditional medicine that is not proven, the government of Zimbabwe has already allowed herbalists to treat patients with the deadly virus.
“Traditional medicine practice has been for ages than science and it is recognized by the majority of Zimbabweans,” said Tribert Chishanyu, president of Zimbabwe Traditional Practitioners Association.
“If scientists are given opportunities to try whenever there is an emergency disease (outbreak), why can’t we do the same to traditional medicine practice? We treat symptoms relating to COVID-19, so by (some) chance we may be able to treat COVID-19,” he concluded.
